In today's industries, robotic equipment is being used for a wide variety of applications. Such applications may attach some form of tooling to a mechanical wrist or end of a robotic arm via a mounting face plate or some form of bracketry. Much of the tooling has become versatile, complex, and modular so that the tooling can be used for various applications and workpieces. Such modular tool designs tend to be more expensive than conventional designs, since a greater amount of engineering, design, and material costs are invested into the modular tooling. Thus, any damage to the modular tooling can be rather expensive and costly to the manufacturer.
Occasionally, the robotic system and/or its tooling may encounter unexpected obstacles in a manufacturing environment. If the robotic system and/or the modular tooling impacts the obstacle with sufficient force, or if the robotic system continues to move once the modular tooling has come into contact with the obstacle, the robotic system and/or the modular tooling may become damaged. Further damage may occur if the robotic system is not stopped after the initial damage occurs.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a robotic system and/or modular tooling system that reduced the amount of damage to the modular tooling and/or the robotic system upon encountering unexpected obstacles by immediately stopping the robotic system upon damage to the modular tooling.